• Nutrition

    Smoothies: for Adults or sugar overload?

    I’ve long been a fan of Shawn Phillips, author of Strength for Life: The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life. Over the past few years, I’ve become somewhat more than a Facebook Friend. In September of 2010 I was curled up in a ball in my bunk in the Barrels Huts at 12,000′. I drank some bad water and had severe diarrhea and cramps that almost stopped me from successfully qualifying for the Elbrus Race 2010, a mountain running race to the summit of 18,510 ft (5642 meters) Mount Elbrus, highest peak in Europe and one of the Seven Summits. Shawn called to cheer me up, and help…

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  • Equipment

    Basement Training Room Updated

    Finished the floor for my basement training room. This is the room where my weight equipment gets used. I bought a few boxes of the plastic garage flooring at Costco (they have it every summer) and staggered the black and white tiles in a checkerboard pattern. It’s pretty fast and simple to do. I had to cut the tiles around the edges on two walls. The space I left is for the framing for insulated walls with electric outlets – that should be later in the year, maybe summer. I started at the most difficult place – an “L” and worked my way outward to the right and back (facing…

  • How-to

    Spike and Run My Hoka One One Mafate WP

    Spiking the Mafate WP So I decided to spike my Hoka One One Mafate WP. First of all I posted on their Facebook wall, asking if it would be okay, since I have no clue what the internal structure is, and I didn’t want to run into any air pockets. They replied quickly and said it would be fine. I went to a few stores trying to find #6 x 3/8 hex head sheet metal screws. Finally at the Ace Hardware in Silverthorne, CO, I found a box and got it. I charged up my drill and went to work. First you clean and mark the sole. You want to…

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  • Motivation

    Big Fat Mountain – Kilimanjaro and Obesity

    I ran into a listing on Kickstarter (a startup funding pool website) for Big Fat Mountain – a documentary by Kara Richardson Whitely about her journey past obesity by taking up hiking and eventually climbing Kilimanjaro (one of the Seven Summits Quest). I’ve done Kili, and it was a long hike, and I think it’s an awesome goal for someone trying to regain their youthful health and fitness. She also wrote a book about her ongoing transformation – Fat Woman on the Mountain: How I Lost Half of Myself and Found Happiness I haven’t read it yet, but think I’ll add it to my queue. This sounds like it could…

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  • Motivation

    Too Scary for the Beginners

    Attitude can be a really big deal when you’re trying to make changes and set goals. Sometimes it’s one of the only things you can actually change in your world. You cannot tailor make the situations in life, but you can tailor make the attitudes to fit those situations — Zig Ziglar You can approach life with a positive or negative outlook. A lot of people who are just beginning their road to better health and fitness have become burdened down by the negatives in their lives. Negative emotions, self-image, job, housing, health. Sometimes you can fix these things, sometimes not, but the one thing you can always fix is…

  • Nutrition

    Very Berry Protein Yogurt

    This is a total treat, right up there with ice cream, but way better for you. In a bowl stir together: 1 cup fat-free plain yogurt 1 scoop strawberry protein powder gently stir in: 1/2 cup mixed frozen berries It’s great to start eating right away, as the berries seem to thaw as you stir and eat, leaving some ice crystals for chewy surprise texture.